Hot D**m! A real Leap Year Glitch. Embedded too.

Well, what do you know. I've got a real Leap Year Glitch, right here in my own home. I favor those inexpensive Casio Wrist Watches, which all have the same chip. Today, my watch thinks its Tuesday, March 1.

I doubt if this is going to bring down the economy or anything, but I though it was interesting. Makes me feel sort of like a part of history. And, I could see where this could cause some people a little bit of trouble, as the Casio watch chip seems to be about the most widely used one here in the USA.

As for me, I'll just wait until tomorrow and patiently tell the watch that it is now Wednesday, March 1, not March 2.

Its not a chip glitch. Your cheap ass Chinese watches probably just
didn't have leap years programed in initially. Now if they fritzed
out and we're keeping time properly, that would be significant....

My point was that if a watch does not keep track of a year, then
there is no way for it to know if that year is a leap year. Some will
compensate by allowing only 28 days for every Feb., forcing the user
to correct the problem on leap years. The only other choice is to
assume Feb always has 29 days, which will force the user to correct
the problem for non-leap years.

So, it may be a "leap year bug" but it would have happened in 1996,
and will happen again in 2004, so it's not a "Y2K leap year bug."

I personally believe this behavior in watches is somehow related to
the mysterious DST (or "daylight savings time") glitch, which causes
many digital watches to unexpectedly be inaccurate by an hour.
Annecdotal evidence suggests that the average digital watch
experiences this problem about twice a year.

While this has not caused many problems to date, the World's digital
watch population is ageing. Perhaps these DST Glitch faults are
being reported to the watch data buffers, which then slowly fills
up. When full, after say about four years, it starts acting in
unpredictable and unexpected ways -- in this case, rather than being
only an hour off, it is a full day off. Not a problem -- YET! But
the problem is obviously increasing as we speak. We've gone from one
hour errors to one day errors. I'm just speculating here, of course,
but how soon before we start seeing one month errors? HOW SOON
BEFORE OUR WATCHES WILL NO LONGER TELL TIME AT ALL, AND MD-80'S BEGIN
TO FALL OUT OF THE SKY LIKE RAINDROPS?

I don't know about you, but I'm running out today to buy a few cases
of spring-wound analog watches and a Kevlar Umbrella (they work for
Chemtrail Spray too).

Perhaps these DST Glitch faults are being reported to the watch data
buffers, which then slowly fills up. When full, after say about four
years, it starts acting in unpredictable and unexpected ways -- in
this case, rather than being only an hour off, it is a full day off.

This is completely untrue. It is a well-known fact that when watch
data buffers fill up beyond their capacity, it causes the watch to
explode and leak data all over your wrist. This is perfectly harmless
and the data can be washed off with ordinary soap and water.

most@watches.dont -- an excellent theory. Have you discussed it with
Carl Jenkins? Perhaps pipelines and MD-80's use embedded Casio watch
chips for some arcane purpose, and those chips are just starting to
explode. While the leaked data may be harmless to people, perhaps is
is jamming or clogging mechanical systems.

If investigators were to check the jackscrew lubricant in MD-80's for
leaked data residue, it might shed substantial light on this matter.

With further input of this calibre from dedicated citizens such as
yourself, I've no doubt that we can still make TEOTWAWKI a reality!

OK, there's gonna have to be a worldwide recall of these
lesser-quality watch chips.
Some poor terrorist might be planning to use one as a trigger to a
thing-that-will-go-boom and the poor sap'll be waiting literally for
ever to get his or her jollies!

My Timex thinks it's 3/1, but since there is no way to set the year,
I guess this is a known issue every 4 years. Hope not too many
embedded systems can't be reset (if it matters). We know that in
1996, a leap day bug ruined an entire factory. Something about
thinking it was a weekend and shutting down power, which allowed
molten liquid to congeal inside of pipes, they had to rebuild the
plant. (I'm not too specific because this is reported in better
detail in other threads.)

most@watches.dont -- an excellent theory. Have you discussed it with
Carl Jenkins?

Yes, He indicated his approval by nodding his head and drooling
slightly. I believe he will post several relevant articles on the
mating habits of rhesus monkeys as evidence of my theory.

Perhaps pipelines and MD-80's use embedded Casio watch chips for some
arcane purpose, and those chips are just starting to explode.

Yes, both pipelines and MD-80's are manufactured at the same location
and are made of the same material - "pipeline aluminum with Casio
watch chips." I believe the manufacturer is Baskin-Robbins.

While the leaked data may be harmless to people, perhaps is is
jamming or clogging mechanical systems.

This is possible. And by "possible" I mean that it is absolutely
certain beyond the shadow of a doubt.

If investigators were to check the jackscrew lubricant in MD-80's for
leaked data residue, it might shed substantial light on this matter.

It might, if the world operated as it does in your charming naive
scenario. The sad reality, of course, is that the investigation has
long been completed and any investigator who would have discovered
anything of that nature would have been immediately murdered along
with his entire family and friends, their bodies having been long ago
incinerated by the NTSB goon squad.

With further input of this calibre from dedicated citizens such as
yourself, I've no doubt that we can still make TEOTWAWKI a reality!

I feel deprived. My watch only has those pointy things that go around
in circles (I think they used to be called "hands"). And it never told
me the date in the first place, so I'm no more clueless today
than I was yesterday (or will be tomorrow).

Ya know, EH, I was just looking at the threads on the Japanese-
European glitches and I got to thinking and looking. 'Bout everything
in the house is made by the Japanese, including parts in this lovely
machine my honey built for me. Just a thought.